LOCATION:

Frankfurt Red Light District

Address

Around Taunusstrasse and Kaiserstrasse, Frankfurt am Main

The red light district of Frankfurt is in the Station Quarter (Bahnhofsviertel) near the main train station and is split into strip bars, sex shops, brothels and various establishments catering to different tastes and practices and yes, fetishes.

The Strip Clubs are of varying quality where if you’re male and wearing a suit and tie, you will receive various requests in muttered not exactly perfect German or English to come, have a look, and spend as much time and therefore cash as possible – which is a good reason not to go inside to aforementioned establishments promoting adult pleasure. Remember: Don’t flash your cash, look after your wallet or purse (it would be sexist to assume only men visit strip clubs, women visit strip clubs too, e.g. a Hen’s Party), and do not make any purchases without first knowing the price, e.g. buying a scantily dressed stripper a bottle of French champagne, in order to have something bubbly to drink, while assuming to be casually chatting her up.

The Brothels in Frankfurt are well established and legal. In and around Taunusstraße are four-storey licensed brothels called Eros Centres, where the upper floors apparently command a higher price for a higher standard. However, contrary to that tip, a man was kind enough to point out your truly that the levels of the brothels work the other way around based on practicality; the drunks (the main customers of prostitution) at night are too lazy to walk all the way up the stairs, so the nicer girls are found on the lower floors. Therefore, the upper floors have a ‘different standard’.

It’s probably a good idea to behave like a gentleman and politely enquire about prices and services before paying for sex in Frankfurt’s Bahnhofsviertel.

As with everything else, when it comes to the sex industry, you get what you pay for, and the close proximity to one of Europe’s busiest train stations means there is a high volume of customers coming through with an hour or or two to spare before their next train.

The street hookers are to be avoided, not because they’re illegal and the German state can’t tax their takings, but because of their health: Drug addiction and prostitution go hand in hand.

Around Frankfurt’s Red Light District, or just plainly called Bahnhofsviertel, there are an assortment of adult clubs, sex shops, pornographic cinemas, and of course, colourful characters of all sizes, races and temperaments.

From a historical perspective, Frankfurt’s Red Light district is a ghost of its former self. During the heyday of the Cold War when Frankfurt was a major military headquarters for the allies, Frankfurt was the recreational focus of many off duty service men. The ‘sex business’ was supposedly ten times larger back then to what it is now.